Oklahomans tired of waiting for unemployment money
The small crowd gathered outside the Workforce Oklahoma Career Connection Center on Wednesday applauded as an employee led a member of t heir group inside to talk to someone about the problems he had been experiencing while trying to collect unemployment benefits.
They were the same problems everyone in the crowd had come to the Career Connection Center to try to get resolved, but not many people were having luck. The center opened at 8 a.m., and at 11 a.m., the man was only the fourth walk-in appointment to make it in the building.
Calvin Homer was excited, though, because he was next in line. Homer had been up since before dawn. He went to the Oklahoma Employment Security Commission's main offices at the Capitol around 4:30 a.m. to see if he could get a place in line to be seen that day, but over 100 people had already gathered. So he headed over to the Career Connection Center and at 5:05 a.m. secured his place as fifth person in line.
“It's been very frustrating,” Homer said. “You call somebody, they tell you that they gotta send it to another department, and then that department, they never call you back. Their little game to me is, `I'll call you back.' They never do. Never.”
Homer, one of the thousands of Oklahomans out of work because of the pandemic, had been trying to collec tun employment since April 5, but the online system wouldn't let him. Calling the agency led nowhere, he said, so he was trying to get his
issue resolved in person. He was finally about to get that chance, but his frustrations with the process were shared by everyone gathered.
The Oklahoma Employment Security Commission has been overwhelmed by the dramatic spike in jobless claims prompted by the economic upheaval caused by the coronavirus pandemic. Thousands of fraudulent claims also have hindered the agency's ability to help clients.The commission sought to redesign its information technology systems to improve its abilities to handle a heavier volume of claims. It also began adding additional people to catch phone calls at the agency. But waits have remained long for many seeking help with claims.
On Wednesday, Robert Fullerton sat in his lawn chair under t he shade, thankful the day wasn't hotter. As he talked with the people in line around him, he resigned himself to the reality that although he had been there since 6 a.m. and was No. 12 in line, he might not be seen that day. Two spaces back, Adrian Newell came to the
same conclusion.
“It' s just tough right now,” Newell said. “It's tough toge tin and get relief. We've seen 60 people come up and leave. This parking lot was packed with people needing help. They figured, `Oh, I'm No. 30. I'll never get in.' And they leave.”
The story for those at the center has been the same since it reopened on June 15. Unemployed Oklahomans try to file for unemployment online, but the system won't let them. They call the agency, but no one picks up or they get left on hold. The few who can get through are told they'll be referred to Tier 2 and someone will call them back. They never get called back. So they head to one of the two Oklahoma City locations where they can talk to someone in person, t he Career Connection Center or the Capitol.
To make an appointment at one of the offices beforehand, people have to call and go through the same process as before. But people are tired of waiting for a call back that never comes, so they wait for hours before the offices open to have a chance
at receiving a walk-in appointment. The Capitol only takes 225 walk-in appointments per day, and the center only takes about 12 per day.
Fullerton and Newell were tired of waiting, and they knew if they didn't get seen that day, they would have to come back even earlier the next day and try again. But even though they were frustrated with how things were going, they said they knew the people in the Career Connection Center were working hard. Fullerton said he could see they were improving their organization even as they continued to be overwhelmed.
The solution, they suggested, is to hire more people and have more people working at any given time. Newell also suggested making shifts so the center could stay open later and possibly stay open on Saturdays. The bottom line, though, was that they were both tired of waiting for their unemployment benefits, and they said they want the people in charge to do something to fix it.
“What it looks to me is the whole infrastructure of the unemployment system is failing Oklahoma ,” Newell said. “Not only Oklahoma, but it looks like America.”